Methods for doping nanostructured materials and nanostructured thin films

Abstract

A method for introducing one or more impurities into nano-structured materials. The method includes providing a nanostructured material having a feature size of about 100 nm and less. The method includes subjecting a surface region of the nanostructured material to one or more impurities to form a first region having a first impurity concentration within a vicinity of the surface region. In a specific embodiment, the method includes applying a driving force to one or more portions of at least the nanostructured material to cause the first region to form a second region having a second impurity concentration.

1. A method for introducing one or more impurities into nano-structured materials, the method comprising:
 providing a nanostructured material having a surface region, the nanostructured material having a feature size ranging from about 10 nm to about 100 nm and less; 
 subjecting the surface region to one or more impurities to form a first region having a first impurity concentration within a vicinity of the surface region; and 
 applying a driving force to the nanostructured material including the one or more impurities to cause the first region to form a second region having a second impurity concentration; 
 wherein the nanostructured material comprises one of ZnO, CuO, Cu 2 O, Fe 7 O 3 , TiO, TiO 2  SnO 2 , SnO, or WO 3 . 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1  wherein the nanostructured material comprises nanoparticles, nanotubes, nanocolumns, or nanoporous materials. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1  wherein the nanostructured material comprises colloidal particles provided in a suspension or a slurry or a gel. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1  wherein the nanostructured material is provided overlying a surface region of a substrate. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1  wherein the nanostructured material comprises a nanostructured thin film. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1  wherein the nanostructured material is provided in a container. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1  wherein the nanostructured material is provided using a precursor material to the nanostructured material. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1  wherein the one or more impurities provides for characteristics including n doping or p doping, controlled resistivity, controlled carrier density, or controlled carrier mobility for the nanostructured material. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 1  wherein the one or more impurities are provided in a solid state, a liquid state, or a gaseous state. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 1  wherein the one or more impurities are provided using precursors to the one or more impurities. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1  wherein the nanostructured material is subjected to a gaseous environment comprising at least the one or more impurities. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 1  wherein the driving force is one of heat, pressure, electricity, light or a combination thereof. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 4  wherein the substrate comprises semiconductor material, a glass material, a metal, a ceramic material, or a multilayered material. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 4  wherein providing the nanostructured material overlying the surface of the substrate comprises using chemical synthesis, sputtering, spraying, or laser ablation. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 12  wherein the electricity is provided using one of electrostatics, AC fields, electrochemistry, electrophoresis, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 12  wherein the heat is provided to raise a temperature of the nanostructured material, including the one or more impurities, to a value of T in a time period of t, where [D(T)·t] 1/2  is roughly the desired distance over which the impurity is distributed within the nanostructured material, and D(T) is the temperature dependent diffusion coefficient of the impurity within the nanostructured material. 
     
     
       17. A method for introducing impurities to a nanostructured material, the method comprising:
 providing a substrate characterized by one or more impurities having a first impurity concentration, the substrate having a surface region and a thickness; 
 depositing a nanostructured material overlying the surface region of the substrate; 
 subjecting the nanostructured material and/or the substrate to a driving force to form a first region in the nanostructured material having a second impurity concentration; 
 wherein the nanostructured material is selected from a group consisting of ZnO, CuO, Cu 2 O Fe 2 O 3 , TiO, TiO 2  SnO 2 , SnO, and WO 3 . 
 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 17  wherein the nanostructured material comprises nanoparticles, nanotubes, nanocolumns, or nanoporous materials. 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 17  wherein the nanostructured material comprises colloidal particles provided in a suspension or a slurry or a gel. 
     
     
       20. The method of  claim 17  wherein the nanostructured material comprises a nanostructured thin film. 
     
     
       21. The method of  claim 17  wherein the nanostructured material is provided using a precursor material to the nanostructured material. 
     
     
       22. The method of  claim 17  wherein the substrate comprises a semiconductor material, a glass material, a metal, a ceramic material, or a multilayered material. 
     
     
       23. The method of  claim 17  wherein providing the nanostructured material overlying the surface of the substrate comprises providing the nanostructured material using chemical synthesis, sputtering, spraying, or laser ablation. 
     
     
       24. The method of  claim 17  wherein the nanostructured material comprises a nanostructured thin film. 
     
     
       25. The method of  claim 17  wherein the one or more impurities provides for characteristics including n doping or p doping, controlled resistivity, controlled carrier density, or controlled carrier mobility for the nanostructured material. 
     
     
       26. The method of  claim 17  wherein the driving force is one of heat, pressure, electricity, light or a combination thereof. 
     
     
       27. The method of  claim 26  wherein the electricity is provided using one of electrostatics, AC fields, electrochemistry, electrophoresis, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
       28. The method of  claim 26  wherein the heat is provided to raise a temperature of the nanostructured material including the one or more impurities to a value of T in a time period of t, where [D(T)·] 1/2  is roughly the desired distance over which the impurity is distributed within the nanostructured material, and D(T) is the temperature dependent diffusion coefficient of the impurity within the nanostructured material. 
     
     
       29. A method for introducing one or more impurities into nanostructured materials, the method comprising:
 providing a nanostructured material having a surface region, the nanostructured material having a feature size ranging from about 10 nm to about 100 nm and less; 
 subjecting the surface region to one or more impurities to form a first region having a first impurity concentration within a vicinity of the surface region; and 
 applying a driving force to the nanostructured material including the one or more impurities to cause the first region to form a second region having a second impurity concentration; 
 wherein the nanostructured material is selected from a group consisting of ZnS, Cu 2 S, FeS 2 , FeS, SnS, and SnS 2 . 
 
     
     
       30. The method of  claim 29  wherein the nanostructured material comprises nanoparticles, nanotubes, nanocolumns, or nanoporous materials. 
     
     
       31. The method of  claim 29  wherein the nanostructured material comprises colloidal particles provided in a suspension or a slurry or a gel. 
     
     
       32. The method of  claim 29  wherein the nanostructured material is provided overlying a surface region of a substrate. 
     
     
       33. The method of  claim 29  wherein the nanostructured material comprises a nanostructured thin film. 
     
     
       34. The method of  claim 29  wherein the nanostructured material is provided in a container. 
     
     
       35. The method of  claim 29  wherein the nanostructured material is provided using a precursor material to the nanostructured material. 
     
     
       36. The method of  claim 29  wherein the one or more impurities provides for characteristics including n doping or p doping, controlled resistivity, controlled carrier density, or controlled carrier mobility for the nanostructured material. 
     
     
       37. The method of  claim 29  wherein the one or more impurities are provided in a solid state, a liquid state, or a gaseous state. 
     
     
       38. The method of  claim 29  wherein the one or more impurities are provided using precursors to the one or more impurities. 
     
     
       39. The method of  claim 29  wherein the nanostructured material is subjected to a gaseous environment comprising at least the one or more impurities. 
     
     
       40. The method of  claim 29  wherein the driving force is one of heat, pressure, electricity, light or a combination thereof. 
     
     
       41. The method of  claim 32  wherein the substrate comprises a semiconductor material, a glass material, a metal, a ceramic material, or a multilayered material. 
     
     
       42. The method of  claim 32  wherein providing the nanostructured material overlying the surface of the substrate comprises providing the nanostructured material using chemical synthesis, sputtering, spraying, or laser ablation. 
     
     
       43. The method of  claim 40  wherein the electricity is provided using one of electrostatics, AC fields, electrochemistry, electrophoresis, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
       44. The method of  claim 40  wherein the heat is provided to raise a temperature of the nanostructured material including the one or more impurities to a value of T in a time period of t, where [D(T)·t] 1/2  is roughly the desired distance over which the impurity is distributed within the nanostructured material, and D(T) is the temperature dependent diffusion coefficient of the impurity within the nanostructured material. 
     
     
       45. A method for introducing impurities to a nanostructured material, the method comprising:
 providing a substrate characterized by one or more impurities having a first impurity concentration, the substrate having a surface region and a thickness; 
 depositing a nanostructured material overlying the surface region of the substrate; 
 subjecting the nanostructured material and/or the substrate to a driving force to form a first region in the nanostructured material having a second impurity concentration; 
 wherein the nanostructured material is one of ZnS, Cu 2 S, FeS 2 , FeS, SnS, or SnS 2 . 
 
     
     
       46. The method of  claim 45  wherein the nanostructured material comprises nanoparticles, nanotubes, nanocolumns, or nanoporous materials. 
     
     
       47. The method of  claim 45  wherein the nanostructured material comprises colloidal particles provided in a suspension or a slurry or a gel. 
     
     
       48. The method of  claim 45  wherein the nanostructured material comprises a nanostructured thin film. 
     
     
       49. The method of  claim 45  wherein the nanostructured material is provided using a precursor material to the nanostructured material. 
     
     
       50. The method of  claim 45  wherein the substrate comprises a semiconductor material, a glass material, a metal, a ceramic material, or a multilayered material. 
     
     
       51. The method of  claim 45  wherein the nanostructured material is provided overlying the surface of the substrate using techniques such as chemical synthesis, sputtering, spraying, laser ablation, and others. 
     
     
       52. The method of  claim 45  wherein the nanostructured material comprises a nanostructured thin film. 
     
     
       53. The method of  claim 45  wherein the one or more impurities provides for characteristics including n doping or p doping, controlled resistivity, controlled carrier density, or controlled carrier mobility for the nanostructured material, and others. 
     
     
       54. The method of  claim 45  wherein the driving force is one of heat, pressure, electricity, light or a combination thereof. 
     
     
       55. The method of  claim 54  wherein the electricity is provided using one of electrostatics, AC fields, electrochemistry, electrophoresis, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
       56. The method of  claim 54  wherein the heat is provided to raise a temperature of the nanostructured material including the one or more impurities to a value of T in a time period of t, where [D(T)·] 1/2  is roughly the desired distance over which the impurity is distributed within the nanostructured material, and D(T) is the temperature dependent diffusion coefficient of the impurity within the nanostructured material.